


Good Game

by Velocibirb



Series: Life is Different [2]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, they play video games together and that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 18:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21123029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocibirb/pseuds/Velocibirb
Summary: It's game night at the Price house, and it's time to Smash. Victoria is determined to win, Max just wants to have fun, Kate still doesn't know how to play and Chloe has more than a little bit of a trolling streak in her.





	Good Game

**Author's Note:**

> First Life is Strange fic. I should mention that Max is trans, but it's not relevant to this particular fic. Hope you enjoy!

“For the umpteenth time, yes, I brought my Switch.” Victoria rolls her eyes. “And no, I did not forget the controllers, so don’t ask again, Price.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” Chloe chuckles. “Hey Kate.”

The smaller girl meets her eyes, as if she only just realized she was visible. “Oh! Hello Chloe.”

“Hope you’re ready to smash,” Chloe winks. “C’mon, Max’s already upstairs. No Joyce, no step-douche, so we can smash as loud as we want.”

Victoria holds her face in her hand, letting out a sigh. “How many times are you going to make that stupid joke?”

“As much as I want,” Chloe says, sticking her chin in the air as she jumps up the stairs. “Now come on, I can’t kick your ass if you’re blocking my doorway.”

“Tori, it’s alright.” Kate puts a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “If she’s really bothering you, just tell her.”

“I have a reputation, baby,” Victoria says, shaking her head. “It’s more fun when she thinks she needs to try harder to make me smile.” She bends down to kiss the top of Kate’s head, and the two of them start up the stairs.

“Took you long enough,” Chloe says. She already has a mouthful of pretzel sticks, and Victoria can’t help but groan inwardly at the wanton crumbs across her tank top. Max, of course, is next to her on the floor, hip-to-hip, but lacking any other signs of affection.

“Hey Kate!” Max smiles, eyes bright. “It’s been too long.”

Kate giggles. “Max, we had class together on Wednesday!”

“Still!”

“Paws off my girl, Caulfield,” Victoria snaps, a smile playing at her lips. “And what, no hello for me? I’m hurt.”  


Max’s smile doesn’t fade in the slightest. “Hi Victoria! It’s good to see you.”

“And you as well,” Victoria says, performing a mock bow. “Now, Price, point me to your TV and let’s get this shit up and running, yeah?”

It winds up taking longer than it should to reach the main menu of _Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,_ mostly because Victoria, despite her posturing, is not very good with the wiring up of her own game console. In the end, it’s Max who has to leave her engaging conversation with Kate about the upcoming Animal Crossing game to try and wrangle Victoria and Chloe’s uncooperative technology. Wrangle it she does, however, even if the cord from the Switch doesn’t quite reach the ground and Chloe has to put a bunch of old magazines underneath to keep it from hanging midair. Kate, despite being a much more worldly woman than ever before, still can’t help but flush at the swimsuit model on the magazine at the top of the pile, no matter how much she wishes she could control herself better.

“You ready to get your ass kicked, Icky Vicky?” Chloe boasts, cycling through colors until she has a pastel blue Kirby on the Character Select screen.

“If this were Melee, you’d be playing a shit-tier character,” Victoria replies, seemingly apathetic. “You know that, right?” She selects Fox, because of _course_ she does.

“Well, we’re not playing Melee because I care about _fun_,” Chloe says, clicking her tongue in a _tsk tsk._

“Whatever.” Victoria flips her hair. “You better go easy on Kate, at least. She’s never played before.”

“Oh, of course, I’ll be gentle, it’s her first time.”

“Chloe!” Kate buries herself in the arm of Victoria’s sweatshirt.

“Guys, save the trash talk for the match,” Max says, selecting Zero Suit Samus and setting her nickname to _Maximum_. “Please?”

“I- I don’t even know who to pick,” Kate murmurs, still half-muffled in Victoria’s arm. “There’s too many options, how am I supposed to choose?”

“Well excuse me for unlocking every character and the DLC,” Victoria scoffs, though she does give Kate’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“Isabelle’s in the bottom right hand corner,” Max says, helpfully.

Kate’s eyes widen. “Isabelle’s in this game? How can she fight?”

“Heh heh,” Chloe smirks. “Max said ‘bottom.’”

“Grow up, Chloe,” Victoria says.

“Ooh, Katie, you should make your nickname _Jesus_,” Chloe says, inputting the name _420blazeit_ painstakingly slowly. “That way when you die you can come back!”

“How about I don’t do that,” Kate laughs softly, typing out her own name letter by letter. “Should we, uh, do we push start now? What button is that?”

“I got it,” Chloe and Victoria say together. When their eyes meet, Victoria can feel the spark between them. “Final Destination, no items, obviously.”

Chloe rolls her eyes. “For Kate’s oh-so-precious first time? No, Victoria’s Secret, we’re going battlefield, all items. Can’t wait to see her whack you with a hammer.”

“Items are cheating,” Victoria huffs, resisting the urge to cross her arms. “The Smash Ball takes away all the skill. It cheapens the experience, makes the game less than the sum of its parts.”

“Lighten up, Vic,” Max says, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. She selects the _Temple_ map. “It’s just a game, y’know?”

“A game I intend to win,” Victoria snarks back, puffing out her chest. “I hope you’re ready to lose, girls. You may play for fun on your own, but when I’m here, we play for glory.”

“Ooh, I’m really feeling it!” Chloe says, unable to keep herself from laughing at her own joke.

The moment the announcer shouts “go!” Victoria is already at Chloe’s throat. She dodges behind Chloe’s swallow, pulling her into a grab and punching her twice before hurling her across the stage. Max, however, is there in a flash, hitting Victoria with Samus’s stun gun before knocking her into the ground with a backflip.

“Oh, I am going to get you for this, Caulfield,” Victoria growls, gripping her controller tightly. “If you and Price want to gang up on me, so be it! I’ll take you both down!”

“Would somebody please tell me how to play?” Kate asks, mashing the buttons. Isabelle dances around some flowers on the screen, far away from the action.

Victoria’s controller clicks and clacks with the force behind her button-pressing. Fox dashes back and forth on screen, knocking both Kirby and Samus up and down. She can’t keep them from getting a few good hits in on her, but she’s able to push Max’s health to 80% and leave Chloe’s poor blue Kirby flashing red on screen before grabbing and hurling her off the stage.

Unfortunately for her, Kirby has recovery. And when Samus gets her in a grab, Chloe sucks Vic up, jumping off the edge of the stage, taking them both down a stock and effectively resetting her own health.

“You _bitch_,” Victoria seethes, her face redder than it has any right to be.

“Hey, now we’re even,” Chloe says, giving Max a high-five. “Max, now you’re leading in stock, though. Get her, girls!”

“I thought we had a truce until Vic was out!” Max squeaks, running away and straight into Kate’s grasp. She’s hit with a fully-charged smash attack, Samus at the center of a flashing red lighting bolt as she flies off the screen faster than Max can react.

“I’m sorry!” Kate says, half-shouting over the game’s audio. “I don’t know how I did that!”

From then on, the fight only grows more tense. Victoria gets back into the swing of the game, even taking the time to toy with Chloe and push her percentage past 400% before throwing her off the edge with a particularly well-timed grab. That isn’t to say she doesn’t take a beating. Max may play for fun, but she’s been playing Smash Bros since the N64, and she doesn’t go down without a fight. Chloe’s able to swallow and kamikaze Victoria a second time, running out of stock in the process, but the look of cold rage on Victoria’s face is absolutely worth coming in last place in her opinion.

“It’s up to you now, Max!” She bellows, shaking her girlfriend. “You’re the alpha bitch here, girlie!”

“Ah!” Kate squeaks. “I just fell off the edge and you still won’t tell me how to get back up!”

“Up-B, Katie,” Chloe says gently, patting her on the head.

“Which button is B again?”

Max and Victoria dance around each other. Each of them is down to a single stock, and with every shielded hit, Max’s percentage is climbing as Victoria pulls ahead.

“So much for the gaming prowess of Maxine Caulfield,” Victoria says through gritted teeth. “You goddamn casual.”

“Hey, at least I make you have to try,” Max says, tilting her entire body side to side as she desperately tries to dodge Victoria’s seemingly endless assault of of blows.

“You’re fighting a losing battle, Smallfield,” Victoria snarls, a wicked grin playing across her lips. “I am going to put you six feet- no!”

A fatal mistake.

Victoria’s shield bubble popped, leaving Fox dazed and standing still, a perfect easy target. Max is merciless, knocking her into the air with Samus’s rising kick, and with the crack of red lightning that signifies a knockout, Fox goes sailing into the background, his cry of anguish mirroring Victoria’s in real life.

“Two down, one to go,” Max says, too focused to gloat. Chloe, however, is not, pulling down her eyelid to make faces at Victoria, who tosses her controller in front of her, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air.

“Just us?” Kate says, her voice hesitant. “I don’t think it’ll be much of a fight after that, but I’ll do my best.”

Max pulls her hair down, shadowing her face. “Oh, Kate, I’m gonna come and get you!”

“No!” Kate shouts, but she’s smiling. If she’d been texting at the time, Chloe bets she’d use some silly Japanese emoticon. Bad enough Max uses them, but with a girl like Victoria for a girlfriend, Chloe figures Kate has a couple saved as keyboard shortcuts for situations not unlike these.

“Golden hammer!” Victoria shouts suddenly, shooting to her feet. “Kate, go, go!”

“Wh- where?”

“You better get there before Max, so help me-”

“Ah ah ah!” Chloe _shushes_ Victoria. “Don’t you go taking the Lord’s name in vain, now when your little angel girlfriend is right next to you!”

Max is dashing for the item, but Kate still can’t figure out how to run. The distance is closing, and she’s getting farther away, and Victoria’s fists are clenched, white-knuckled.

“Fuck!” Max shouts as Samus takes a pratfall, slipping and falling down through no fault of her own. Kate reaches the hammer, picking it up in her button mashing, and before Max can do anything, she’s flying off the stage and the match is over.

Chloe’s room erupts into chaos. Victoria and Chloe are both screaming “OHHHHHH” as if they’ve witnessed an esports upset. Chloe jumps in the air, throwing her beanie on the ground, and Victoria’s grabbing at her own hair, staring at the TV. Max is stunned, jaw dropped, controller slipping from her hands.

“I- I won?” Kate stares at the screen in disbelief, as if the game is glitching.

“You won!” Victoria pulls her into her arms, spinning around. “Your very first match, and you won! I still got the most kills though, and I want you to know that, Price!”

“Says Ms. Third Place!” Chloe says, punching her on the shoulder.

“Second place isn’t bad,” Max says, but nobody seems to be paying attention to her. “Thought I’d be second to Victoria though, so this is nice. Not like I can go back and change what happened or anything anyways.”

“I won!” Kate laughs, and Victoria pulls her into a kiss. “I guess I know why I’m dating VICTORY-a, now!”

“God-tier pun!” Chloe shouts, still jumping up and down. “Holy motherfuckin’ shit!”

“I’ll allow it,” Victoria huffs, smiling. “Just this once.”

“Good game,” says Max, reaching out to shake Kate’s hand. “Ready for round two, everyone?”

“Hella,” Chloe grins.


End file.
